New to 3D Printing? Here's What Your First Experiences Look Like

Oh boy are you in for a good time! I've been 3D printing for over a decade now and I remember those first days. There's the excitement to pull the machine out of the box, then the crushing realization that you need to learn how it all works. Well, for some of us that last bit is part of the fun too, but for everyone there's a period of time where you're figuring things out and could certainly use a little bit of guidance and advice. 

Before you open your first 3D printer

There are a few things you're going to want and need for your new 3D printing journey. Some of it is knowledge but some of it is tools and materials. You can order these things ahead of time, so they're waiting for the day you pull that fresh brand new 3D printer out of the box. 

Lets start with knowldege. You need to know a few things about your machine. How big is it? What kind of filament can it use? You don't want to be stuck trying to find a good spot for it and not have the materials you need do you? That's a bare minimum. 

Now lets get to the good stuff. You're going to need the following items immediately. 

• space - find a spot that is super solid. Vibration is the enemy of nice prints. A table is fine, but if it is wiggly, that's not great. You should know how much space your printer needs, find a place it will fit and clear it off! Having access all the way around your printer can make your life much easier. If you set it in the corner for example, you may have difficulty reaching the back of the machine, a surprisingly common necessity. 
• filament - we recommend starting out with PLA. This material is widely known as the easiest to print. It sticks to the bed well and prints cleanly without an enclosure.
• ventilation - while not a necessity of operating the machine, some materials can be stinking and just simply not great. For example, ABS. You'll want an open window and a fan at the least. 
• a basic 3d printing toolkit - there are so many tools that could go here but at a bare minimum you need some sidecutters or a way to cut filament, a small screwdriver set, a small allen key set, and some extra usb memory sticks. Sometimes these tools come with your printer. You hopefully already looked it up to know!  Some other items that are nice, are a heat gun, and some nail files. We're thinking of selling a beginner kit, so keep your eyes peeled for that! 

Your first day of owning a 3D Printer

Pull that sweet machine out of the box and put it in the space you already cleared. Today is going to be a good day. To be blunt, when I wrote an article like this a decade ago, the first day was full of testing and troubleshooting to get your printer working right. Modern 3d printers are incredible marvels of technology though, so there's very little to do and most of them walk you through it on their screen, step-by-step. 

The short and vague version is that you're going to run an initial calibration (most machines do this automatically), you'll load some filament in the machine, pick a 3d print off the included memory card, and hit print. That's it! 

We recommend saving yourself a bit of a headache and pulling the print bed out and washing it in water with dish soap. This isn't absolutely necessary but we've found a bed washed with dish soap has the best grip on your 3d print, often better than any after market product meant to adhere items to your bed. If you don't know what I'm talking about, that's fine, you're a beginner. A common issue, even with modern 3d printers, are your prints falling off of the bed while they're being printed. This is caused by finger oils or other debris. A quick clean with dish soap solves this in an instant. 

Really, that's all there is to it! For most modern printers, you're just going to sit back and watch it do its thing! You'll pull a completed print out of the machine after it is done! 

On that first day, I like to get people "slicing" as well. This is when you download a part from the internet and put it in your 3d printer's software to tell your machine how to print it. There are tons videos and articles on all the settings and what they do, so you can always find new tips and tricks in this area. In modern printing, I'd say most of your quality comes from knowing what to do in the slicer. On day 1 however, you just need to figure out how to get your model in there and "slice" it, then get it to your machine. Once you know that, you've opened up massive libraries of items to your whims. 

Building your confidence in 3D printing

It can feel so overwhelming to get a new machine and not know what you can do, and of course, what you can't. You probably have some grand fantasy of printing this amazing full suit of armor or something like that but you really need to take a little bit of time learning so that when you do tackle that big project (and you will!), you'll tackle it with confidence. 

We recommend starting small and simple, and adding one complexity at a time. So you might start with something basic like the "benchy" you see in lots of videos. Then, maybe you find something that has multiple parts that fit together. Then you find something that has moving parts that have to fit together and work. Then maybe you add electronics! That's usually where we come in, but I'll spare you the self promotion till later. Just know our 3d print kits rock for this period of learning. 

Watch some videos and see how to make your prints look better, or how to make them stronger. There are so many things you can do in your slicer, that having a firm understanding of what you need to do can really boost your confidence. 

With modern printers, you can be printing multi-part (and sometimes multi-color) items you've downloaded from the internet with confidence within the first week. You may have some failures. Don't worry! These are totally normal. Dust gets on the bed or you forget to check a box and something goes wrong. So your print is ruined. So what! You can try again and print another! These failures are what push us to learn the tips and tricks that ultimately make us really good at this. 

OK, I've got a 3D printer but now what?

This is the sweet spot. You've got an amazing additive manufacturing machine and at least some basic skill on how to use it! Many people hit a wall at this point of indecision. What should I print? Well there are hundreds of thousands of models out there available to download for free. Just check out Printables.com or Makerworld.com! 

Here's where we saw an amazing opportunity. While there are cool things out there to print, a frustrating aspect of that is that the parts involved are all over the place. maybe you see a really cool puzzle box but it requires a few screws of this type and a couple magnets of that type. Do you want to hunt down those things? Often you have to order tons just to get the one or two that you really need. Even more frustrating is when you buy all those parts and then you find out the design doesn't really fit together! It is a common Problem.

Print Kits solves this. We come up with awesome ideas, find all the parts needed, test them, make a tutorial video and written manual, and package it all up nice and clean. You can get a print kit and know that you've got the parts you need and that they will work! No more hunting stuff down and over buying stuff you don't need. Just sign up to Print Kits to get an awesome 3d printing project every month so you're never stuck wondering what to print next.